Confederate Flag, Noose Found In Student's Truck At Chesapeake H.S.
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A student at Chesapeake High School in Anne Arundel County allegedly had a confederate flag in the back of his truck.
The principal of the school, Stephen Gorski, sent a letter out to parents explaining the situation.
He said a staff member saw the flag and alerted administration. An administrator and the school resource officers then located the vehicle in the parking lot and saw the flag in the bed of the truck. They also saw a noose and a pair of dice decorated with Confederate flags hanging from the rear-view mirror.
Fellow students were appalled.
"I think this shouldn't be happening, and I think people are just doing this for attention," 10th grader Skye Farley said.
"I feel like I'm kind of embarrassed to tell people that I go to Chesapeake because of what's happening," 11th grader Kyle Feldman said.
As recently as last month, African American students complained about a hostile environment in the school.
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The NAACP has held community meetings to find a fix.
"I think the cause is something that this is behavior that the children have learned," said Jacqueline Allsup of the NAACP. "It's something that went on in the past and now it has crept into the new millennium and it's in the new millennium because it's things they have learned from people who are close to them."
Gorski says appropriate action was taken against the student in accordance with the schools Code of Student Conduct. This is independent of how police may proceed.
"Especially given the number of incidents at our school recently as well as those around the nation, it should go without saying that we do not treat these incidents lightly," said Gorski in the letter. "Actions that portray bias, discrimination, or hate have absolutely no place in our community and certainly have no place in our school or any school."
"It's happening everywhere unfortunately. I think we've seen in every news story, whether it's violence or racism that people say I'm surprised it's happening here," said former youth pastor Amy Duiker. "I don't know how people can keep saying that. We need to wake up and say we are not surprised."
Gorski asks parents to talk to their children about what kind of school they want Chesapeake High School to be.
"And the fact that it comes on the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King. On a day where we're commemorating one of the world's most iconic civil rights leaders to have this happen is just sickening," AACPS spokesperson Bob Mosier said.
The spokesperson for the district says staff are going through additional training and a second school resource officer has been added to the school.
The student has not been identified.
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